Highlights of my record collection

WHAT I WON ON EBAY

Patience Atichon is a valuable virtue. You paid twice what I did for the Penny Candles which I finally won last night. According to my records I scooped it for its lowest price. A seasoned ebayer knows that when an uncommon item wrestles a hefty sum from a twitchy buyer said item suddenly becomes a tad more common, usually within a month. As the auction finished I was at the cinema enduring emotional fatwa watching Persepolis. Disney be damned, this is an animated film that really moves one.

EYE ON EBAY

An ebayer called Burghskin parts with £452 for a rare punk record by a band called the Rebels. The A side is called Suicide which would be my option if the girlfriend ever found out I spent that much on one 7" single. It's on Rigid records, probably the band's own label, and the seller says there were only 250 pressed. He bought it in a shop in Sunderland in 1980, the year it was released. Some of the Rebels went on to play in Red Alert.

WHAT I WON EBAY

One second to go and I snatch a 12" by Fragile Friends. It was all down to my keyboard summer school course that made me so fleet of finger. This record rarely appears on ebay and when it does hearts quiver with excitement, at least among the three or four who have it high on their wants lists. A 7" by them has yet to surface and when it does expect pulses to pulsate.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 april 25

1 Starlets : Give My Regards To Betty Ford
2 Youth Group : Sorry
3 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears
4 Sundress : Waiting
5 Starlets : Happy Camper
6 Black Kids : I'm Not Gonna Teach You How To Dance...
7 MIA : Paper Planes
8 James Dean Driving Experience : Dean's 11th Dream
9 Inflatable Boy Clams : Skeletons
10 Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
11 Wake The President : Remember Fun?
12 Youth Group : Catching And Killing
13 Alphabeat : Fascination
14 Potting Sheds : Happy Again
15 Youth Group : Forever Young
16 Girls Aloud : Can't Speak French
17 Kings Have Long Arms with Candie Payne : Big Umbrella
18 Amazing Space Frogs : (I'm Into) Necrophilia
19 Hit Parade : Autobiography
20 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos

Green numbers indicate new entries.

1956 AND ALL THAT.

Inspecting my local charity shops had become something of a chore of late. The high yield of collectables that appeared a few years ago had dried up. So wandering into the Cancer Research while the girlfriend had her eyebrows trimmed was more a force of habit than an urge directed by excitement. The shop had never been that generous with goodies, my last find being Cambodian Rocks Volume 1 for £1; cheap but not rare. Few 7" 's but a reasonable array of 12" 's, most of which had fled eastern Europe around the time of the Prague spring (1968). I ignored the parade of Polish artists and the classical box set which I suspect was planted there simply to beef up the skimpy selection. Suddenly I was confronted by six men with radiant smiles wearing suspiciously folky clothes. They were trapped in a narrow passage in what appeared to be a hamlet in Greece or some country where men with violins lurk in corners in restaurants. My attention was captured only by their name, Omega Red Star, which nullified the naffness of the cover. Sleevenotes on the back advanced the idea that they offered something new to pop music. Judged by their attire could one gainsay that declaration? They had toured Britain in May 1968 and left western musicians bewildered in their wake. I'm sure the myriad styles of the Beatles' White Album was due to thier influence. And they came from Hungary. That last fact, proudly emblazoned on the front of the sleeve, was why I parted with £1.
Belgium is often cited as a country where no one of any import was born. Maybe so if one discounts Rene Magritte, James Ensor, Jacques Brel and Audrey Hepburn. In comparison let's consider Hungary. Do any names spring to mind? Mr. Biro and Franz Liszt. Quite frugal unless you google.
Omega Red Star, what a musical goulash. Prog folk, toytown-psych pop. If anything reeked of rarity this did. Crestfallen communists take note, this piece of Hungarian aural theatre last seen on ebay securing a capital sum of £130. Mono version of course, which my copy happens to be.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 april 18

1 Youth Group : Sorry
2 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears
3 Starlets : Happy Camper
4 Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
5 Starlets : Give My Regards To Betty Ford
6 Sundress : Waiting
7 James Dean Driving Experience : Dean's 11th Dream
8 Black Kids : I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance....
9 Wake The President : Remember Fun?
10 MIA : Paper Planes
11 Alphabeat : Fascination
12 Inflatable Boy Clams : Skeletons
13 Taken By Trees : Lost And Found
14 Girls Aloud : Can't Speak French
15 Hit Parade : Autobiography
16 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
17 Colour Of Love : England's Dreaming
18 Those Dancing Days : Those Dancing Days
19 Youth Group : Forever Young
20 Kings Have Long Arms with Candie Payne : Big Umbrella

Green numbers indicate new entries.

THE HORROR OF HAYES

It's crap. A horrendous London outcrop that is in a state of listless decay. It is as if one is entering a vortex of aesthetic indifference where stunted ideas are celebrated as cultural totems. Gormless groups drift along the pavement tensed with the pointless energy of dumb youth. I have a friend who lives here, subjected to the tantrums of the unwanted local children, circling his house like witless hyenas, screaming and violently booting balls at houses and cars. A charity shop fizzing with unsavoury odours is a sanctuary of sorts. Defeated and damaged the vinyl sprawls awkwardly beneath a ledge of commonplace CD's. A Crickets LP is as mottled as a month old lettuce leaf. Nothing to be rescued here. A miserly slice of salvation appears in the form of a Helen And The Horns 12". Not quite Helen of Troy the glossy Helen McCookerybook, once of Brighton cartoon punkers the Chefs, offers up a jumpy lounge number called Footsteps At My Door. In this locality it is more likely to be the bailiffs than Xavier Cugat marching up the uneven pathway.

Sorry by Youth Group

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 april 11

1 Youth Group : Sorry
2 Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
3 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears
4 Alphabeat : Fascination
5 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
6 Alphabeat : Fantastic Six
7 Starlets : Give My Regards To Betty Ford
8 Starlets : Happy Camper
9 Hit Parade : Autobiography
10 Taken By Trees : Lost And Found
11 James Dean Driving Experience : Dean's 11th Dream
12 Those Dancing Days : Those Dancing Days
13 Girls Aloud : Can't Speak French
14 Sundress : Waiting
15 MIA : Paper Planes
16 Wake The President : Remember Fun?
17 Legendary Hearts : Everything I Have
18 Inflatable Boy Clams : Skeletons
19 Colour Of Love : England's Dreaming
20 Youth Group : Forever Young

Green numbers indicate new entries.

Singles on picture parade

My Brand New Website

Take a look at my New Website. Tell me what you think.
http://turntablerevolution.weebly.com/

WHAT I LOST ON EBAY

Damn Atichon. He circled with intent and swooped on the much sought after Penny Candles 12". I pushed him beyond the reasonable limits. In the past this 12" couldn't muster more than £38.
He paid £60. Poor fool.

WHAT I WON ON EBAY

I had been waiting for a fascinating DIY jewel by the Inflatable Boy Clams to climb out of its shell and slither onto ebay for some time now. It appears every four months or so but always in the hands of an American seller. Postage can be steep, often adding another £6 or so. So I was in a state of happy hysteria when it washed up on ebay in the hands of a UK seller. I doubted it would be an easy catch and so it proved. In the final moments I deflated Bidder 4 and swam to shore with my prize. Bidder 4, what has ebay done? It seems sellers now have the choice of keeping bidders' identities anonymous. Bidder 4 just doesn't have the same ring to it. I wonder if I could confuse ebay and change my ebay moniker to Bidder 4? I'd find that mildly amusing for a day or two. Anyway Bidder 1, 2 and 3.....no, hold on, I think I was Bidder 3, anyway Bidder 1 was a faint hearted fellow/lass and .....or was I Bidder 1? Oh who cares? I won and I am not a number, I'm a free man.

VINYL RETURNS

Venturing into the local PDSA I was pleasantly surprised to see the return of vinyl. A small box containing maybe 30 LP's. Nothing too interesting, Laura Nyro and Crosby Stills & Nash and some pre violin disco ELO. The singles, of which there were a substantial number, have exited the building but charity shops are subject to the whims of OAP overlords and they may return in the near future.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 april 4

1 Youth Group : Sorry
2 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
3 Alphabeat : Fascination
4 Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
5 Alphabeat : Fantastic Six
6 Hit Parade : Autobiography
7 Explained Emma : When My Heart Rings
8 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears
9 Those Dancing Days : Those Dancing Days
10 Wave Pictures : Now You Are Pregnant
11 Legendary Hearts : Everything I Have
12 Yeah Jazz : Julie And The Sealions
13 Poems : I Am A Believer
14 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
15 Starlets : Give My Regards To Betty Ford
16 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
17 Fischers : Down The Days
18 Indelicates : 16
19 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
20 Wave Pictures : We Dress Up Like Snowmen

Green numbers indicate new entries.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 march 28

1 Youth Group : Sorry
2 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
3 Alphabeat : Fascination
4 Hit Parade : Autobiography
5 Those Dancing Days : Those Dancing Days
6 Explained Emma : When My Heart Rings
7 Legendary Hearts : Everything I Have
8 Alphabeat : Fantastic Six
9 Wave Pictures : Now You Are Pregnant
1o Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
11 Yeah Jazz : Julie And The Sealions
12 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
13 Fischers : Down The Days
14 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
15 Poems : I Am A Believer
16 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
17 Indelicates : 16
18 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears
19 Wave Pictures : We Dress Up Like Snowmen
20 Perfect Stone : Little Girl Purple

Green numbers indicate new entries.

WHAT I WON EBAY

Having received two amazing indiepop cd compilations from a fellow collector in Canada I felt I had no choice but to bid for one of the bands featured thereon. Late last year I won a Potting Sheds 7" and their East Anglian Inspiral Carpetishness seduced me. The 12" appeared on ebay about a week after I received the two cd comps and I was prepared for rampant bidding. Indeed some familiar names laid down their money but only one sent waves of anxiety pulsating through me; his name, Atichon. We've traded cyber blows before and we've both experienced fabulous financial outlay due to the unchecked enthusiasm of the other. It was a cordial battle and neither of us harassed the other into parting with an avalanche of coinage. Well, the final total fell far short of three figures.

COVENTRY RECORD FAIR

The dungeon of England, that's the midlands. Dank hunched streets doused in sooty grime. Pallid youths sweat in terror as the sun tickles their stubble. It's an unconfirmed statistic that a flannel hasn't sold in Wolverhampton since Neds called it a day. The Germans tried to cancel Coventry out back in the forties, ten years later the town planners tried to finish the job. Despite the cruel fate meted out to it the city has a surreptitious charm that seeps into the consciousness like a benign infection. Why am I pondering the twisted beauty of the big C? To avoid reliving the dull hour spent browsing through twenty boxes of mediocre vinyl and CD's. That hour was only enlivened by the overhearing of a rascist rant from one stall owner that was more hideous than any 1950's architecture. It was so vile it drove me out of the room and into the welcoming arms of the British Heart Foundation. There for a meagre 25p each I picked up four 12" singles: two Raw Herbs; Da Vincis; and Let's Make Some Plans by the Close Lobsters.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 march21

1 Youth Group : Sorry
2 Hit Parade : Autobiography
3 Those Dancing Days : Those Dancing Days
4 Alphabeat : Fascination
5 Legendary Hearts : Everything I Have
6 Yeah Jazz : Julie And The Sealions
7 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
8 Explained Emma : When My Heart Rings
9 Alphabeat : Fantastic Six
10 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
11 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
12 Wave Pictures : Now You Are Pregnant
13 Indelicates : 16
14 Fischers : Down The Days
15 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
16 Wave Pictures : We Dress Up Like Snowmen
17 Poems : I Am A Believer
18 Perfect Stone : Little Girl Perfect
19 Los Campesinos : The International Tweexcore Underground
20 Indelicates : We Hate The Kids

Green numbers indicate new entries.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 march14

1 Legendary Hearts : Everything I Have
2 Those Dancing Days : Those Dancing Days
3 Hit Parade : Autobiography
4 Yeah Jazz : Julie And The Sealions
5 Alphabeat : Fascination
6 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
7 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
8 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
9 Indelicates : 16
10 Explained Emma : When My Heart Rings
11 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
12 Los Campesinos : The International Tweexcore Underground
13 Poems : I Am A Believer
14 Wave Pictures : We Dress Up Like Snowmen
15 Fischers : Down The Days
16 Perfect Stone : Little Girl Purple
17 Indelicates : We Hate The Kids
18 Watch With Mother : Suzanne
19 Alphabeat : Fantastic Six
20 Wallflowers : Thank You

Green numbers indicate new entries.

TOP THIRTY CHARITY SHOP FINDS

6 Commotion Upstairs : EP

Usually I heap praise on my local PDSA when it comes to unearthing an unexpected gem but this time let me congratulate the British Heart Foundation. Rarely do they entertain the noble 7", if they do it's usually three or four they've chucked in with the 12"'s. On this day though the stunted cousin of the 12" had its own little box tucked away beneath a panoply of skirts. Commotion Upstairs was at the very front bearing a little red sticker with 50p scrawled on it. Obsequiously it winked at me, begging me to whisk it away from the dull company it was forced to consort with. Tiring no doubt of the incessant chatter of women sifting through A-line skirts it was anxious to be liberated. I felt the price was right and scooped it up. My insouciant attitude to thrift proved a benison as several months later a copy appeared on ebay and netted a lucky seller £102.

WHAT I LOST ON EBAY

It came down to a face off with old enemy Atichon for the one and only Relations LP. I pushed him gingerly above £35 then denied my rasher instincts and snapped shut the metaphorical wallet. I couldn't persuade myself to pay more.

EYE ON EBAY

It was a difficult moment watching Nobodies Home by Newsflash grasped by the greedy hands of old rival Picheux 89. Having nobody to extort money from and doubting that declaiming my Larkinesque poetry at the underground station would procure the necessary funds to compete in the ensuing struggle for this musical morsel I played the part of observer. No surprise to see this rarity generate a bulky £122.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 march 7

1 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
2 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
3 Los Campesinos : The International Tweexcore Underground
4 Hit Parade : Autobiography
5 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
6 Alphabeat : Fascination
7 Indelicates : 16
8 Legendary Hearts : Everything I Have
9 Poems : I Am A Believer
10 Fischers : Down The Days
11 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
12 Wave Pictures : We Dress Up Like Snowmen
13 Indelicates : We Hate The Kids
14 Those Dancing Days : Those Dancing Days
15 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring : A Question Of Trust
16 Explained Emma : When My Heart Rings
17 Yeah Jazz : Julie And The Sealions
18 Wallflowers : Thank You
19 Perfect Stone : Little Girl Purple
20 Watch With Mother : Suzanne

Green numbers indicate new entries.

WHAT I WON ON EBAY

At last I have the set. Having obtained Obscure Independent Classics volumes 2-5 over the years number 1 has not only eluded it me it's never even grinned teasingly at me. It made its debut on ebay and then who appeared? Gothic Darkwave of course, surfing on a tsunami wave of funds, a rogue, a rapscallion, a minion of the devil; possibly, or perhaps a timid soul festering in fruitless labour who carves a morsel of pleasure from the edifice of his drab life by snatching remote records from cyberspace. With a second to go I outbid....Nykobing, an old adversary. Mr.Darkwave did not stir from his Gormenghastian outhouse. Soon the famous Cordelia cat will be mewing at my letterbox.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20

1 Los Campesinos : The International Tweexcore Underground
2 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
3 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
4 Poems : I Am A Believer
5 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
6 Hit Parade : Autobiography
7 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring : A Question Of Trust
8 Indelicates : 16
9 Fischers : Down The Days
10 Alphabeat : Fascination
11 Indelicates : We Hate The Kids
12 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
13 Scarlet Downs : Windows
14 Wallflowers : Thank You
15 Wave Pictures : We Dress Up Like Snowmen
16 Screen Gemz : I Don't Like Cars
17 Driscolls : If Only
18 Club Hoy : On And On
19 Sarah Goes Shopping : Summer Blues
20 Coral : Jacqueline

Green numbers indicate new entries.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 February 22

1 Los Campesinos : The International Tweexcore Underground
2 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring : A Question Of Trust
3 Poems : I Am A Believer
4 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
5 Screen Gemz : I Don't Like Cars
6 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
7 Wallflowers : Thank You
8 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
9 Scarlet Downs : Windows
10 Coral : Jacqueline
11 Hit Parade : Autobiography
12 Ebony Bones : We Know All About You
13 Indelicates : We Hate The Kids
14 Life Studies : Girl On Fire
15 Rumblefish : Mexico
16 Fischers : Down The Days
17 Indelicates : 16
18 Aston Hall : My Daily Sun
19 Sarah Goes Shopping : Summer Blues
20 Wave Pictures : We Dress Up Like Snowmen

Green numbers indicate new entries.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20

1 Poems : I Am A Believer
2 Los Campesinos : The International Tweexcore Underground
3 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring : A Question Of Trust
4 Wallflowers : Thank You
5 Coral : Jacqueline
6 Screen Gemz : I Don't Like Cars
7 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
8 Ebony Bones : We Know All About You
9 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
10 Rumblefish : Mexico
11 Scarlet Downs : Windows
12 Aston Hall : My Daily Sun
13 Life Studies : Girl On Fire
14 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
15 Sarah Goes Shopping : Summer Blues
16 Indelicates : We Hate The Kids
17 Hardy Boys : Wonderful Lie
18 Irregulars : Against The Grain Of My Life
19 Hit Parade : Autoboigraphy
20 No Flags Etc. : Don't Bring Me Back

The green numbers indicate new entry.

I DON'T WANT TO GO TO GREENFORD

But I did anyway. Since the closing of the charity shop with the giant basement I have been reluctant to trawl through the unwanted detritus of Greenford. It's not a prepossessing place consisting as it does of little more than a tip and a busy crossroads; with the A40 obligingly placed within puking distance for rapid exit. The first charity shop has a vigorous stench, a sort of soaked-through old carpet odour. Poor old Penny McLean, her LP has been brutalized by some clumsy brute and appears quite unplayable. Soon though a BMX Bandits 12" is found and Greenford is pleading with me for redemption. A vast collection of horrific rock records reveal their mucky faces to me in the Cancer Research. I scuttle away. Fara delivers three CD LP's at a bargain £1: Little Ones : Sing Song; a Kill Rock Stars compilation called Mollie's Mix; Pram : Sargasso Sea. The strangest encounter was with 50 or so 78's that appear to have never been kissed by a stylus. They all came from the one shop, long since extinct, somewhere on the Uxbridge Road. The majority of them are all the same song except for Cocktails For Two by, um, I forget. My hapless memeory.